How Long Can A Frog Go Without Food?

[tibby25731]

I'm cycling my tank with fish in, and 2 african dwarf frogs. Stupid I know, but I am stuck doing this now so don't shout please!
I have been told to refrain from feeding the fish for about a week to get the cycle going with donated media. But I am worried about the frogs. i feed them frozen bloodworm twice a week, and the fish eat some too. How long can my frogs safely and happily go without food? If I need to keep feeding them I will have to catch them and pop them in my isolation net whilst they eat, but I know this will stres them

 

[Miss Wiggle]

not sure specific to frogs, but i would imagine they are comparable to other similar sized fish, if this is the case they can go for 1/2 weeks without feeding.

personally I don't support the idea of not feeding during a cycle for a number of reasons, main one's below

1 - if you don't feed the fish although they can quite happily manage for a few days or a week, if you get beyond 2/3 weeks (and yes cycles can take that long... and the rest) the fish's health will begin to deteriorate, as the levels of toxins are all over the place you need the fish to be in peak physical condition so that they can survive, to my mind weakening them by not feeding is counterproductive

2 - for the cycle to continue the bacteria need ammonia to feed off, ammonia is produced when fish eat and subsequently poop. For most people when they cycle with fish (accidentally or intentionally) they will use a small number of hardy fish, if you've just a small number of fish they aren't going to produce a lot of ammonia anyway and as such if you withold food the ammonia production will go down and the cycle may stop or stall altogether.

I haven't seen teh topic advising you not to feed, so don't know all the circumstances. However unless you've an awful lot of fish, I wouldn't recommend that you stop feeding, yes lighten up a bit so ammonia is kept low, but feed small portions every other day or something like that.

 

[raptorrex]

I'm cycling my tank with fish in, and 2 african dwarf frogs. Stupid I know, but I am stuck doing this now so don't shout please!
I have been told to refrain from feeding the fish for about a week to get the cycle going with donated media. But I am worried about the frogs. i feed them frozen bloodworm twice a week, and the fish eat some too. How long can my frogs safely and happily go without food? If I need to keep feeding them I will have to catch them and pop them in my isolation net whilst they eat, but I know this will stres them

the short answer is YES! but i would not do it.
not sure on this, but why would you starve the mature media, would it not need feeding? I have never done a with fish cycle, but i can't see how not feeding the fish would help, i would have thought quite the opposite in fact. as for the frogs, depends on their size and the temperature of the tank. i would have thought the unicycled nature of the tank would be the biggest problem.

 

[Nim]

Original Topic

Why I suggested to stop or slow down feeding was because the ammonia had crept upto 4ppm and one of the biological filter media was removed from the tank. If ammonia tends to creap up a lot then either do water changes to remove the excess or I tend to follow the natural path of not feeding until it comes within control and then sparingly feed again.

Feeding fish is important during the cycle but then who governs how much to feed? I think it is important to test the stage of the cycle for not feeding for a few days to see if the cycle is going though or not especially when there has been some disruptions in the cycle process. In a smooth cycle process, one should continue to feed as usual.

Nim

 

[raptorrex]

Original Topic

Why I suggested to stop or slow down feeding was because the ammonia had crept upto 4ppm and one of the biological filter media was removed from the tank. If ammonia tends to creap up a lot then either do water changes to remove the excess or I tend to follow the natural path of not feeding until it comes within control and then sparingly feed again.

Feeding fish is important during the cycle but then who governs how much to feed? I think it is important to test the stage of the cycle for not feeding for a few days to see if the cycle is going though or not especially when there has been some disruptions in the cycle process. In a smooth cycle process, one should continue to feed as usual.

Nim

ok got it. the tank is not cycled, or the media was not up to the job. putting mature media into a filter , should give you cycled water straight off, the amount of fish it can sustain would depend on how many fish were in the original tank, and the proportion of the media that you could get in the filter.

you are of course right, though i would tend to go for 80% water changes every two days and continue feeding, though reducing the amount. both would help. no offence meant, the extra info from you made it clear.

 

[tibby25731]

Thanks all. I will carry on asking for help in my other topic!

 

[raptorrex]

Thanks all. I will carry on asking for help in my other topic!

whilst you have your problems, why not pop the frogs in a tank or container of about 5 gallons, that's is you have access to one, they will be fine with no filter, providing you do bi daily 100% water changes. so you can feed as normal, they are also, said to be, more sensitive to water quality, so it may also help there too. indeed it is not uncommon to keep these guys with no filter, so they should come to no harm. i apologise, i should have made this comment yesterday. i just got caught up in the cycling question.

 

[tibby25731]

Thanks, i will have a look around and see if I have anything I could use for the frogs... problem is finding something with a lid - one of my frogs escaped the other day, it was a nightmare trying to catch him!
Any further general advice on looking after these frogs would be very welcome, as i keep finding conflicting advice on the internet!

 

[raptorrex]

Thanks, i will have a look around and see if I have anything I could use for the frogs... problem is finding something with a lid - one of my frogs escaped the other day, it was a nightmare trying to catch him!
Any further general advice on looking after these frogs would be very welcome, as i keep finding conflicting advice on the internet!

i found it hard to get, consistent, advice on these too. they do seem to be happy in some community tanks. but from my research, they seem best suited to small tanks with very little water flow, this is often why they are kept with no filter. they need no dry area, though they do need somewhere to sit and get their heads out of the water, they breath air and they have a habit of singing, if they are happy. apart from that, feeding seems to be the main problem, people often say they are resistant to eating none live food, though this is not my experience, it comes up so much i feel i must mention it. plus getting the food to the frog, in a community, can cause all sorts of problems, i used a 50mm syringe with a long extension allowing me to pump the food right to the frog/s. there is a good pinned profile of these guys, by inchworm. it maybe worth having a look at that.

 

[Azaezl]

Did you manage to find a suitable container for your frogs tibby? The reason you'll find alot of conflicting advice on the net about frogs is simply because what works for one person doesn't work for another. For instance some people succefully keep frogs in community tanks and they get food no problem, others find they have to keep the frogs in their own tank. It's the same with breeding them alot of conflicting advice about how to raise the tadpoles but it's basically personal experience.

why not pop the frogs in a tank or container of about 5 gallons, that's is you have access to one, they will be fine with no filter, providing you do bi daily 100% water changes

Bi-daily 100% water changes in a 5 gallon container with just frogs in is not necassary and if anything would stress the frogs out alot because they would have to be removed from the container twice a day whilst it was emptied. Approximately 50% water change every other day should be fine but keep an eye on the water quality incase slightly larger / more frequent changes are needed.

they seem best suited to small tanks with very little water flow, this is often why they are kept with no filter.

IME frogs are fine in a tank with a little bit of flow, I currently have a 15G with a fluval 2+ filter which produces a fair bit of flow, they are often kept without a filter because they do not produce a large amount of waste.

they need no dry area, though they do need somewhere to sit and get their heads out of the water

They don't require a place to sit and get their head out of the water, frogs simply swim to the surface get some air and dive bomb back down to the bottom of the tank. If they are in a lazy kind of mood(also when they are lethargic due to illness) then they will float near the surface / find somewhere close to the surface to sit so they don't have to make the trip up from the bottom of the tank. If a frog is consistently at the surface either floating or ontop of an internal filter for example then I would lean towards there being something wrong either with the water or perhaps a bacterial infection in the frog which is the most common cause of lethargy in them.

people often say they are resistant to eating none live food, though this is not my experience, it comes up so much i feel i must mention it

This is down to the individual frog, some will eat pellets, very rarely you may get a frog that will eat flake but in general it is true that they prefer food such as bloodworms, beefheart, prawns etc.

All of this is covered in my pinned profile on the frogs;


Frog article

 

[tibby25731]

Thank you, that is great! One more thing - does cycling affect frogs? Cos if I move them to a large container or their own tank, will I not need some beneficial bacteria in the water??

 

[raptorrex]

Thank you, that is great! One more thing - does cycling affect frogs? Cos if I move them to a large container or their own tank, will I not need some beneficial bacteria in the water??

no not really, the water changes will keep the water fine.

sorry Azaezl, i forgot about your excelent post! i would however challenge you on the head out of water, side of things. they do seem to like, though not need, somewhere to sit with the water surface in close proximity, and singing is hard with a mouth full of water lol. often a plant leaf is fine. i know both my frogs and newts like to do this, though they do spend 99% at the bottom of the tank, only coming up for gulps of air. i guess the best answer is that something like that would do no harm, and may even get used.

 

[Azaezl]

i would however challenge you on the head out of water, side of things. they do seem to like, though not need, somewhere to sit with the water surface in close proximity, and singing is hard with a mouth full of water lol

I disagree about the singing, my frogs sing underwater, videos of which can be seen / heard in the links on the thread I did. I guess it's down to the individual frog, yours may just enjoy having it's head out of the water, any of mine could quite easily sit on top of the filter if they wanted to have their heads out of the water or on one of the fake plant leaves that's near the surface but they choose not to.

i guess the best answer is that something like that would do no harm, and may even get used

Agreed